


the arms of the ocean deliver me

by MayQueen517



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy is emotional and for good reason, Andy is mortal in this because I like pain, F/F, I wanted this to be fluffy and then. it wasn't, Quynh is still working through a lot, Sorry not sorry?, Unbeat'd, obligatory reunion fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26507176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayQueen517/pseuds/MayQueen517
Summary: Andromache's hair is short and she is so different and Quynh feels as if she is still below the water. Her head is full of pressure and for a moment, Quynh wonders if she’s still beating her fists against a coffin.Andromache stares at her, eyes wide, filling with tears and Quynh hates her and loves her in equal measures. She wants to hold her and wants to never see her again.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Comments: 15
Kudos: 93





	the arms of the ocean deliver me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heart_nouveau](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heart_nouveau/gifts).



> I just had to write my take on Andy and Quynh reuniting. This is for the dear, sweet heart_nouveau who is such a cheerleader and so kind in prompts and comments. I hope you enjoy it, friend!
> 
> Title is from the song Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine.

After the anger, after the fighting, and after the tears, Quynh feels abruptly hollowed out. She sinks to the floor, tears streaming down her face as Andromache stands above her. Her hair is short and she is so different and Quynh feels as if she is still below the water. Her head is full of pressure and for a moment, Quynh wonders if she’s still beating her fists against a coffin.

Andromache stares at her, eyes wide, filling with tears and Quynh hates her and loves her in equal measures. She wants to hold her and wants to never see her again.

"You left me," Quynh whispers, looking up at her. She fires her words like she once fired her arrows, knowing that they would hit their target. And indeed, Andromache looks struck, tears spilling down her cheeks and Quynh steels her jaw, looking at her. She dares her to say something as Andromache's breath hitches.

"The ocean is so big. Quynh," Andromache says, bottom lip trembling. Sorrow hangs on her frame like ill-fitting armor as grief and anger war within Quynh.

"Do not speak of me of big," Quynh says, a snarl pulling at her lips. Her own lips tremble, "You left me down there."

Andromache crouches on the floor in front of her. Her boots barely touch Quynh's and Quynh looks down at them even as she hears the shuddering breathing in the room.

"And I will apologize for that for the rest of my life," Andromache says, tears spilling faster now as Quynh watches her. Quynh remembers the tears they had both shed over Lykon and her heart hurts in the same way, remembering what Booker had told her.

"And if I claimed your life here and now?" Quynh asks, leaning forward as Andromache sobs hard, ducking her head. Quynh's heart aches and howls in her chest, begging for comfort and the touch of another human being. Of her Andromache. The other half of each other's soul, they had once promised each other.

"My life has been yours for 4000 years, Quynh. It doesn't stop now," Andromache says. Sorrow and love mingle on her face and Quynh can't hold onto her anger for now. Her anger may resurface in the way Quynh herself has in the land of the living.

For now, all she has is sorrow.

Andromache reaches out, hand trembling, seeming fragile for the first time in her long life and Quynh gives into her heart. She pulls Andromache closer, letting her soul sob into Quynh's neck. Andromache cries like a wild animal, howling into her neck and Quynh finds that her sobs start again.

They hold each other like that, sharing their grief before Quynh has nothing left. Andromache weeps softly against her in a way that Quynh has never felt before. Quynh holds onto her, reminded of a cave after Lykon, preparing his body while her tears fell. She remembers holding Andromache while his pyre burned.

"Andromache," Quynh whispers, just to say her name in a different way. Andromache sits up, looking at her, eyes red and face blotchy. Quynh reaches up, touching the planes of her face that were once as familiar as Quynh's own.

"Quynh," Andromache says, voice rough and watery as she holds onto Quynh's hand, leaning into it. They sit quietly, listening to each other breathe and Quynh finally reaches over, touching the necklace that she had once threaded around Andromache's neck herself.

"All those years," Quynh says, meeting Andromache's eyes. She watches Andromache look down, her own hands drifting to the back of her neck.

"I never took it off," Andromache says, pulling it off slowly and holding it out for Quynh.

"Never?"

"Well, bathing with it wasn't a great idea," Andromache allows with that wry sense of humor that still steals Quynh's breath. "I replace the cord when it gets thin. Do you want it back?"

Quynh watches the pain across Andromache's face, the way she obviously steels herself and Quynh shakes her head softly, looping it back over Andy's neck.

"I gave it to you for a reason."

"Has the reason changed?"

Quynh takes a slow, deep breath, the kind that she relishes now. She smells the spices from whatever Nicky had cooked earlier. She can smell the soap that is so plentiful now (an embarrassment of riches, she had thought, months ago, when she had to learn a whole new world by herself before she ever made her way to Booker). The world is new all over again and Quynh thinks of years spent wandering the desert, dying over and over, before Andromache had found her.

"Never, my heart," Quynh responds in her language, considered ancient by today's standards. Andromache inhales sharply, like she's been stabbed and when Andromache curls into Quynh, Quynh allows herself to comfort her as she has wanted for 500 years.

“We looked. Ten, twenty years, we looked. The ship that took you went down in a storm and there were no survivors. We looked,” Andromache says, voice breaking. Quynh knows she is telling the truth, knows it in the way she knows Booker and Nile now. She dreamed of Nile looking over ancient maps, trying to help with the search hundreds of years on.

“I am scared you forgot me,” Quynh says finally, seeing all the ways that Andromache has changed. Quynh remembers her love as fierce and quick to act, full of mischief and laughter. She still remembers the great whooping laughter Andromache allowed only Quynh and Lykon to hear. She wonders if Nile or Booker has heard Andromache truly laugh. She has pieces of Andromache's soul next to hers, wishing she could provide these pieces to the family she dreamed of.

"I was sometimes jealous of Booker and Nile." Andromache cups Quynh's face, holding onto her in the way that Quynh remembers from before the water. "I was jealous that they got a glimpse of you and all I had was memories."

"They saw me die. Over and over again," Quynh says.

"And they will get to see you live. Over and over again," Andromache says, tears shining in her eyes. Quynh leans her head, pressing her lips to the soft skin of Andromache's wrist, lips buzzing like the first time their lips touched. Andromache gasps, mouth falling open and Quynh can't help that she is still so angry and exhausted but she can help how she loves the woman before her.

"We still have years together. And they will be ours," Quynh says finally. Andromache's breath stutters as Quynh presses their lips together. The floor is uncomfortable and hard, an ache in her back that she hasn't remembered despite everything. She doesn't move, doesn't want to break this moment with Andromache in her arms, quiet and content with each other as the sun rises on a new day.

There is time to heal, but perhaps healing starts here - Andromache in her arms and the knowledge that she is above the water.

**Author's Note:**

> As you could tell, I am ALWAYS taking prompts over on Tumblr, at [CactusDragon517](https://cactusdragon517.tumblr.com/)! Come chat with me!
> 
> Give the link to [this a reblog](https://cactusdragon517.tumblr.com/post/629481099233525760/the-arms-of-the-ocean-deliver-me-mayqueen517), if you don't mind!


End file.
